ASU claims share of Pac-10 title; heads to Holiday Bowl

Following a 10-2 regular season and a share of the Pac-10 Conference Championship, the ASU football team will play in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl against Texas Longhorns (9-3, 5-3 Big XII).

The game will be played inside Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Calif., and will kick at 5 p.m. PST, Dec. 27. ESPN will provide both national television and national radio coverage of the game.

"We're excited about going to the Holiday Bowl," Head Coach Dennis Erickson said. "We get to play Texas. That's a great program, a historic program, and great opportunity for us. Our players are really excited about going where we're going. First we've got to focus on finals. We're excited about going to San Diego. That's a great bowl game."

"We are just so excited, finishing the year as Pac-10 Co-Champions and 10-2 and successful in our very important rival game," Vice President for University Athletics Lisa Love said. "Playing a perennial power like the University of Texas, December 27th in the Holiday Bowl, is a great step forward. This is exactly what we wanted to do. We are very pleased to be mentioned in the same breath as a program like Texas."

ASU football season ticket holders and donors will be offered first opportunity to purchase tickets for the game. Tickets prices vary and will be available based upon donation level. Season ticket holders and donors were emailed or mailed an order form on which they can request tickets. Those order forms can be mailed, faxed (480) 965-6006 or delivered in person to the Sun Devil Ticket Office.

Season ticket holders may purchase Pacific Life Holiday Bowl tickets on the web at www.thesundevils.com by accessing their season ticket account online. Once on the ticket portion of the web site, season ticket holders should click on the "Bowl Requests" button and login to their account for the order form.

If demand for tickets exceeds the number of tickets ASU is allotted for the game, the priority point system will be used to determine which season ticket holders are able to purchase tickets.

The deadline to request tickets is 5 p.m., Dec. 7, to guarantee seating based on priority. Tickets will be mailed/shipped or ready for pick up no earlier than December 13.

ASU student season ticket holders will be offered the opportunity to purchase tickets in a special seating area. Details on student tickets will be released later this week.

Sun Devil Ticket Office hours are Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5pm. For more information contact the Sun Devil athletic ticket office at (480) 727-0000.

The Sun Devils, who have never faced the Longhorns, finished ranked No. 11 in the final Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings, ranked No. 11 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll and No. 12 in the AP rankings while Texas was No. 19 in the BCS while holding the No. 17 positions in both the coaches and AP rankings.

With a 10-2 overall record and a 6-2 mark in the league, the Sun Devils are coming off a 20-17 defeat of rival Arizona in Tempe Saturday night. The Sun Devils will compete in a bowl game for the fourth-year in a row and will appearing in the Holiday Bowl for the third time in program history. ASU last played in the Holiday Bowl on December 27, 2002, where it fell, 34-17, to Kansas State. The Sun Devils' first Holiday Bowl appearance came on December 22, 1985, where Arkansas defeated ASU, 18-17.

The Sun Devils, who will be playing their 23rd bowl game, will look to improve on their 12-9-1 all-time bowl record and rebound from a 42-21 loss to Hawaii in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl last season. Prior to that, ASU had won two bowl games in a row, defeating Rutgers in the 2005 Insight Bowl (45-40) after defeating Purdue in the 2004 Sun Bowl (27-23), which snapped a three-game bowl losing streak.

Texas finished second in the South Division of the Big XII behind Oklahoma and is coming off a 38-30 loss at Texas A&M. The Longhorns will be making their fourth Holiday Bowl appearance and its first since 2003 when it fell to Washington State, 28-20. Texas also will making its 47th bowl appearance, which ranks second all-time in NCAA history behind Alabama (54). The Longhorns have won three bowl games in a row, including a 26-24 defeat of Iowa in the 2006 Alamo Bowl and a 41-38 defeat of USC to win the BCS Championship at the 2006 Rose Bowl.

For the latest information on the game and ticket information, visit http://thesundevils.com. Fans can also visit www.PacificLifeHolidayBowl.com or call TicketMaster to purchase tickets.

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